Randolph cboxptoh



carriers, that is to as known,

shown in 'my Aug. 10, 1926.

UNITED STATES.

Re. 16,401 PATENT OFFICE.

RANDOLPH OROIPTOF, OF WORCESTER, BETTE.

METHOD OF WEAVING.

Io M8. Original H0. 1,514,686, dated llbvember 11, 19%, Serial I0. 579,532, flied August 3, 1923.

Application for reissue filed January L2, 1926. Serial No. 80,848.

My invention pertains to a method of weaving having among its objects the elimination of waste and the employment of simler mechanism than has heretofore been ound practicable and will be best understoodfrom the following specification describing by way of illustration one specific manner of em loying my method, while the scope of my" nvention will be articularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Heretofore in using looms of the type wherein the weft carrier automatically is transferred it is common practice to em loy in connection with the loom a feeler mec anism which is intended to cause the weft carrider to be transferred when it is exhausted. As a matter of fact, however, it is not ractical absolutely to exhaust the weft, the eelermechanism causing the'transfer when about ei ht picks remain upon the carrier.

After .thls stage'is reached the carriers are cleaned of thegremaining weft and are then rewound. In the aggre te theloss of weft incident to this methocFis considerable, es-

'ally in mills employing a large numis of looms, and further although in some cases the method" is eminently practical yet ii! many cases the application of the feeler mechansm to the loom results in an objectionable com lexity of mechanism. It is among the ob ects of my invention to elimi-' into both the waste and complexity of mechinism incident to this method.

-In-carrym outmy method I employ in connection with the automatic loom a measu'i'ing device which will cause the weft carto be transferred at measured inter vals, for example after a predetermined numberof picks have been'removed therei from, which number for example is the same for each carrier, the operation being disfiii ed from'the method which employs fee or mechanism in that the transfer is not dependent upon "the number of picks reupon the carrier.

As measuring devices for causing the weft for example the bobbin, or shuttle and bbin, to be transferred or chan ed at measured intervals are it is believed unnecessary to deser'ibeone. An example of a loom equipped with ameasuri device for this purpose is nited States Patent No. $0,121 granted-March 1, 1898.

. flereto'fore it has been impossible to put termine what I may into practice automatic looms equipped with measuring devices because of the great loss of weft incident to their use. A measuring device will cause transfer of the carrier, as heretofore stated, for example after a predetermined number of picks have'been removed, but owing princi ally to the unavoidable stretch in the weft in the weaving operation it is impossible to determine how to set the measurin device so that the carriers will be trans erred when nearly exhausted. For this reason measuring devices, in spite of their simplicity over feeler devices that rely upon mechanical feeling contact with the weft to determine the time of transfer, have not been used in practice.

According to the present illustrative example of my invention I first wind the carriers by suitable winding machinery, say in a so-called universal winding machine, and then select a number of carriers, say for example one hundred, which by inspection represent those turned out by the windin machine as havin a minimum number 0 picks thereon. I en make a test run with these carriers and by measurement of the fabric woven and counting of the picks deexpect to be the minimum number of picks on a carrier. The measuring device on the loom is then set to cause the 100m to transfer the carriers after a number of icks considerably less than this minimum ave been removed from the carriers, this of course allowing for stretch and, for any carrier which by chance may contain less picks than what has been shown by my test weave. It will be noted that my carriers as a result of this are transferred with a considerable amount of weft thereon, say as many as sixty or seventy picks, as distinguished from the method now in practice whereby the carriers are transferred with eight or less picks thereon. A further step in my method consists in taking the trans ferred carriers back to'the universal winding machine, and without cleaning them, tying the loose ends of the remaming' weft thereon to the reservoir of weft in the winding machine and winding an amount of weft of the same kind thereon equal to that which the measuring device on the loom is set to cause to be removed, the winding machine of course bein provided with supplies of weft co :1 in color, weight, etc. to the various kinds 0 weft woven mto the fabric produced in a given loom. In other words the winding machine is set to wind a length of weft equal to that which the measuring device on the loom is set to remove, consequently each individual carrier may always be returned to the loom with substantially the same amount of weft thereon.

I will be noted by my method that not only am I enabled to employ the much simpler measuring device but that waste of weft is absolutely eliminated.

Although I have described for purposes of illustration one way of carrying out my method it is to be understood that I am not limited thereby to its exact details, but that wide deviations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Claims- 1. That method of weaving on looms having measuring devices for causing transfer of weft carriers after a predetermined number of piolos, comprising winding the weft upon a series of carriers; selecting a large number of such wound carriers; making a test run with all said selected carriers; determining the number of picks in the resulting woven fabric; thus determining the minimum number of pickson a carrier; then setting the measuring device to cause transfor after a number of picks considerably less than said minimum, thereby allowing for stretch of the weft; then placing the transferred carriers in a winding machine and tying the loose end of the weft remaining on such carriers to the supply in said winding machine; then winding on each carrier an amount of weft equal to that which the measuring device upon the loom is set to function at; and finally weaving with said rewound carriers.

2. That method of weaving on weft carrier transferring looms having measuring devices for effecting the transfer of carriers after a predetermined number of picks as indicated by said measuring device, comprishig, winding a series of carriers in a winding machine; selecting a relatively large number of wound carriers determined by inspection to have a minimum number of picks wound thereon; then making a test run with all of said carriers; then measuring the resulting woven fabric and counting the picks, there by determining the minimum number of picks on the carrier; then setting the measdevire to cause transfer after a number of picks relatively less than the determined minimum, thereby allowing for stretch, etc; then placing the discharged carriers in a winding machine and tying the loose end of the weft remaining on said cartiers to the reservoir of weft in said ma: dine,- then winding an amount of weft onto ing device on the loom is set to function at, and finally weaving with said rewound carriers.

, 3. That method of weaving on weft carrier transferring looms having measuring devices for transferring the carriers after a predetermined number of picks as indicated by said measuring device, which comprises winding a large number of carriers in a socalled universal Winding machine; then selecting approximately one hundred wound carriers which by inspection have a minimum number of picks wound thereon; then making a test run with all of said-carriers; then measuring the resulting woven fabrics and counting the picks, thus determining the minimum number of picks upon a carrier; then setting the measuring device to cause transfer after a number of picks considerably less than said minimum, thereby allowing for stretch of the weft, etc, thus resulting in transfer with fifty or more picks left upon each carrier; then placing the discarded carriers in the so-called universal winding machine and tying the loose end of the weft remaining on said carriers to the weft supply in said winding machine, and winding an amount of weft upon each of said carriers equal to that which the measuring device on the loom is set to function at. and then weaving with such carriers.

4. That improvement in the continuous production of woven fabrics upon automatic weft carrier transferring looms which comprises the employment of a plurality of carriers, using said carriers in weaving by said looms, transferring said carriers prior to substantial exhaustion of the weft thereon and inserting rewound carriers at measured intervals irrespective of the amounts of the remnants of weft remaining upon said carriers, securing the ends of new supplies of weft of the same kind to the ends of the remnants remaining upon the carriers, and rewinding upon the respective carriers lengths of weft substantially equal to those removed by the weaving preparatory to reuse in'the weaving.

5. That improvement in the continuous production of woven fabrics upon automatic looms which comprises employing a lurality of automatic weft carrier trans erring looms, winding machinery for winding the Weft upon the carriers for said looms, and measuring means to effect at intervals transfor of the carriers in said looms prior to substantial exhaustion of weft thereon irrespective of the amounts of the remnants of weft remaining upon said carriers; removing said carriers after transfer thereof to the winding machinery, securing the ends of the remnants of weft on the carriers to new supplies of weft of the same kind for said winding machinery and rewinding the I N01?! carneir equal to that which the measur-carriers, and coordinating the rewinding to U the depletion of the carriers by the weaving been deplet by the weaving, vwhereby to effect substantially con- V a tinuous weavingof the fabric without waste of weft and without necessary mechanical contact with the weft to determine the time of transfer of said carriers.

6. That improvement in the continuous roduction of woven fabrics upon automatic ooms which comprises employing a lurality of automatic weft carrier trans erring looms, winding machinery for winding the weft .u n the carriers for said looms, and measnrmg means to effect transfer of the carriers in said looms at intervals determined by depletion of the amounts of weft on the carriers by a predetermined number of picks irrespective of the amounts of the remnants of weft remaining upon said carriers; removing said carriers after transfer lengths of weft substantially thereof to the winding machinery, securing the ends of the remnants of weft on the carriers to new supplies of weft of the same kind or said winding machinery and rewinding the carriers, and coordinating the rewinding to the depletion of the carriers by the weaving to cause said winding machinery to rewlnd the respective carriers by equal to the lengths of weft by which they had been depleted by the weaving, whereby to effect substantially continuous weaving of the fabric without waste of weft and without necessary mechanical contact with the weft to determine the time of transfer of said carriers.

7. That improvement in the continuous production of woven fabrics upon automatic 7 weft carrier transferring looms which comprises transfe the carriers at measured intervals irrespective of the amounts of the remnants of weft remaining thereon, securing the ends of the remnants of weft there on to new supplies of weft of the same kind and rewinding the same, and coordinating the rewindings to the amounts of weft removed in weaving to rewind upon the carriers at each rewinding lengths of weft sufli- 'cient to prevent substantial exhaustion of the weft thereon at the times of succeeding transfer.

8. That improvement in the continuous production of woven fabrics upon automatic weft carrier transferring looms which comprises transferring said carriers in the looms prior to substantial exhaustion of weft, securing the ends of new weft of the same kind to the ends of the remnants on the depleted carriers to avoid waste of weft, and rewinding the respective carriers with the new weft to the extent of weft removed in weaving irrespective of the length of the remnants upon the carriers when transferred.

9. That improvement in the continuous production of woven fabrics upon automatic looms which comprises employing a plurality of automatic weft carrier transferring looms, winding machinery for winding the weft upon the carriers for said looms, and

means to effect at measured intervals transfer of the carriers in said looms irrespective of the amounts of the remnants of weft remaining upon said carriers; removing said carriers after transfer thereof to the winding machinery, securing the ends of the remnants of weft on the carriers to new supplies of weft of the same kind for said machinery and rewinding the carriers, and coordinating the rewindings to the amounts of weft removed in weavin to rewind upon the carriers at each rewin ing lengths of weft suflicient to prevent substantial exhaustion of weft thereon at the times of succeeding transfer.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

RANDOLPH CROMPTON. 

